We’ve been waiting a decade for another Oleander record. Ten years since Joyride, Oleander took a break and the guys went on to do their own thing. They’ve been working together again for awhile now, but music coming out has been a long time coming. Now, after all of the wait Oleander has released their new record, Something Beautiful.For Oleander fans, the wait was worth it. There’s a little bit of everything of what the band did great more than a decade ago and a few new surprises as well.

Something Beautiful starts out with a bang after the track “Fight!” hits. The song has been around for awhile but it’s still sounds fresh. The energy of that song starts the album out perfectly. After that, the new single, and the title track off of the album, is up. The intro to the song takes you back to some of Oleander’s edgier songs from a few years ago. The song is a classic mainstream rock track, and thanks to Thomas Flowers’ impressive vocal on the song (and on this album for that matter,) it’s even better. The rest of the album is a bit different. It’s a hodgepodge of radio friendly ballads and rock tracks that are best experienced when listening to them together, not separately. That’s the best and the worst of the new Oleander album. There are three to four singles that will sound great in any playlist, but the rest of the songs don’t really fall into place with a lot of other material. That won’t go over well with a lot of the Spotify crowd, but people who actually buy the album will listen to it from start to finish more than they listen to the singles. So yes, if you were or still are in to Oleander this one is worth picking up.

If you’re a longtime follower of the band then you’ll pick up this and love it just for what it is. But after that initial joy wears off, even then you’ll realize that this album is pretty damn good.

We’ve been waiting a decade for another Oleander record. Ten years since Joyride, Oleander took a break and the guys went on to do their own thing. They’ve been working together again for awhile now, but music coming out has been a long time coming. Now, after all of the wait Oleander has released their new record, Something Beautiful.For Oleander fans, the wait was worth it. There’s a little bit of everything of what the band did great more than a decade ago and a few new surprises as well.

Something Beautiful starts out with a bang after the track “Fight!” hits. The song has been around for awhile but it’s still sounds fresh. The energy of that song starts the album out perfectly. After that, the new single, and the title track off of the album, is up. The intro to the song takes you back to some of Oleander’s edgier songs from a few years ago. The song is a classic mainstream rock track, and thanks to Thomas Flowers’ impressive vocal on the song (and on this album for that matter,) it’s even better. The rest of the album is a bit different. It’s a hodgepodge of radio friendly ballads and rock tracks that are best experienced when listening to them together, not separately. That’s the best and the worst of the new Oleander album. There are three to four singles that will sound great in any playlist, but the rest of the songs don’t really fall into place with a lot of other material. That won’t go over well with a lot of the Spotify crowd, but people who actually buy the album will listen to it from start to finish more than they listen to the singles. So yes, if you were or still are in to Oleander this one is worth picking up.

If you’re a longtime follower of the band then you’ll pick up this and love it just for what it is. But after that initial joy wears off, even then you’ll realize that this album is pretty damn good.